Following months of tension with nearby residents, Bluestockings Cooperative in New York City is facing eviction over the harm reduction and support services it provides, particularly to people who are unhoused, Curbed reported.
The cooperative bookstore, which is located on Suffolk St. on Manhattan's Lower East Side, provides Narcan kits, along with food, socks, and a variety of hygiene and sanitary products, for free. It is also registered with the state health department's Opioid Overdose Prevention Program, allowing the bookstore to provide free Narcan training.
While it is not the only OOPP site in the area, the store allows visitors to stay for as long as they like and anyone is able to use the bathroom, which leads to unhoused people congregating at the bookstore. Neighboring residents have complained directly to the bookstore, petitioned City Council members, and pressured the bookstore's landlord.
In late October, the bookstore received a 15-day "notice to cure" from its landlord, alleging the store violated its lease by using "the premises as a medical facility," and that distributing food and allowing unhoused people to use the restroom has created a "hazardous condition" for residents.
In the two months since receiving the notice, Bluestockings has been able to get the window to cure extended through the help of pro bono legal representation, and negotiations continue with the bookstore's landlord.
Raquel Espasande, a Bluestockings worker-owner, told Curbed the cooperative hopes to avoid legal action; failing that, the bookstore could seek a Yellowstone injunction, "which would pause any eviction proceeding until a judge can rule on the validity of the violations."
Bluestockings originally opened in 1999 on Allen St., also on the Lower East Side. That location closed in July 2020, with the current Suffolk St. location opening in April 2021.